A handful of years ago, I forget exactly when but let us say circa 2011-2013, I was given these 3 sketches from someone whom I purchased some video games from. I hadn’t paid much attention to them since I got them, the person who gave me them simply said something along the lines of I have these sketches, do you want them? I’m not sure if they are real, but you can have them if you want. I agreed, received them, looked at them and didn’t think of them any more. Until today.

Looking for some items to scan from my collection, I happened upon the presentation folder housing these three sketches. It made me recall the story recited to me so long ago. For whatever reason I paid some closer inspection to the sketches and I have to say that I think they may be the real deal!

Each drawing is presented on a blank sheet of paper, however each individual sheet has the exact indentations still in it that match the strokes of the drawing. If these are merely photocopies, wouldn’t the paper display no imperfections? True, these sheets may have been used for tracing the images perhaps, but the indentations just don’t seem to give off that kind of appearance or vibe. Or maybe I am just trying to believe these are authentic sketches! Additionally, the ink bleed seems to follow true to the pen and the paper. I think finer detail such as this may be lost, or perhaps display slight imperfections upon a reproduction when placed alongside an original drawing.

I guess the jury is still out, but I like to think that in my collection I have 3 original sketches (or very good reproductions) by Koichi Ohata [ 大畑 晃一 ] of M.D. Geist and Genocyber fame to name but two credits!